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Manager ejections down in season's first month

4/13/14: John Farrell is ejected after arguing an overturned call at first base in the 4th inning

By Doug Miller
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MLB.com |

Baseball's new expanded review system has been dissected on a near-nightly basis during the first month of the season, and it's a work in progress.

One area where there has been a change so far is in the ejection of managers. According to statistics, fewer managers have been run from games this year than in other seasons in which review has been active, albeit in a lesser scope.

So far in 2014, only three manager ejections have taken place, and two of those resulted from reviewable plays. Red Sox manager John Farrell was thrown out of his team's April 13 loss to the Yankees for arguing when a play at first base was overturned by umpires after a review. The next night, Rangers skipper Ron Washington was ejected for similar reasons when umpire Ted Barrett overturned a call at home plate against the Mariners.

The only other manager ejection so far this year came on April 8, when Cubs skipper Rick Renteria of the Cubs was thrown out of a game for arguing balls and strikes. It had nothing to do with review.

This year's stats compare favorably to other years in the era of review. In 2009, for example, five managers had already been ejected by April 21. In 2010, the number dipped to two, but it jumped the following year, when eight skippers had been run from games by April 21, one (Joe Maddon of Tampa Bay) on a reviewable play.

In 2012, six managers had been ejected from games by April 22, and last season the number stayed steady at five, with A's manager Bob Melvin, Maddon, former Cubs skipper Dale Sveum, Arizona manager Kirk Gibson and Brewers skipper Ron Roenicke all receiving ejections by April 23.

Doug Miller is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.